Expert: Walter Hintz - 10/6/2005

Question
I'm taking biology and we're going to be doing a science fair and I need a question. My question was "what is my dog saying?" but I can't put that in a hypothesis, or find any of the variables, plus I don't know what would be measured in it. I really want to do something with my dog or cat, though. Can you help? Like how would I put this into any of those, or change it to be a good question. This isn't really about biology, sry, but I really need help.
Thanks!

Answer
Hi erin;
  You need a different question here.  There is no way to measure what your pet is communicating.  Try something you can measure.  I have judged science fairs where someone tested the food preferences of their pets. Pick a specific brand or type of food and make a hypothesis.  If you have a cat it might be better to use a cat because most of them are really picky. Dogs will eat just about everything.  I had a cat for instance that would only eat people canned tuna and not cat food tuna.  I had another one that liked sphagetti.  So here is what you should do if you want to use a cat.
  Problem: What kind of food does my cat like best?
  Hypothesis: My cat prefers to eat Meow Mix.
  
Now design your experiment giving your pet different brands of food and keep records.  Collect data about how much food is eaten and how often.   
 Let me know what you decide or if you need more help erin.